Configurable flow velocimeter

ABSTRACT

A monitoring device includes a sensor module disposed between an aeroshell and a cavity assembly. A surface of the aeroshell and a surface of the cavity assembly may form a flow-facing surface of the monitoring device. A junction area on the flow-facing surface within which the aeroshell abuts the cavity assembly may be a smooth surface to minimize the disruption to the surrounding flow of fluid. The sensor module may sample the absolute pressure from ports distributed about the flow-facing surface. The absolute pressure measurements may be used to compute the velocity of the fluid flow, including speed and/or direction. The monitoring device may be powered by inductively received energy or harvested energy. In one variant of the monitoring device, the monitoring device may be constructed from an electrically coupled mosaic of flexible thin-profile tiles, each of which may be responsible for one functional aspect of the monitoring device.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation Application of U.S. application Ser.No. 17/179,737, filed on 19 Feb. 2021 (now issued as U.S. Pat. No.11,181,544) which is a non-provisional patent application of and claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/979,035, filed 20 Feb.2020, both of which are incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a configurable flow velocimeter with amodular assembly.

BACKGROUND

The measurement of flow velocity, including direction and speed, isuseful in diverse domains, such as the aerospace, agriculture, andautomotive domains. Currently, a wide variety of instruments areavailable to probe a flow of fluid, in which a fluid may refer to a gasor a liquid. Many of these instruments are optimized to measure flows ina controlled environment, for example, a wind tunnel. Such instrumentsmay have a highly sensitive probe, but also comparatively bulkyhardware.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment of the invention, a monitoring device includes asensor module disposed between an aeroshell and a cavity member. Asurface of the aeroshell and a surface of the cavity assembly may form aflow-facing surface of the monitoring device. To minimize the disruptionto the surrounding flow of fluid, a junction area on the flow-facingsurface within which the aeroshell abuts the cavity assembly may be asmooth surface. The aeroshell may be securely attached to the cavityassembly by pressing the aeroshell against the cavity assembly androtating the aeroshell in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.

The sensor module with a plurality of sensors may sample the absolutepressure from ports distributed about the flow-facing surface. The portsmay have a variety of shapes including circular, oval, slot-shaped,triangular, a triangular with rounded corners or other shapes. The shapeof the ports may impact the resolution at which the flow direction canbe measured. In one embodiment, the sensors may be distributed on asingle planar surface. However, to provide an additional degree freedomto connect sensors more easily to the ports on the flow-facing surface,the sensors may be distributed on multiple planar surface that areparallel to one another.

The absolute pressure measurements may be used to compute the velocityof the fluid flow, including speed and/or direction. To compute the flowdirection, sensors may be ranked based in order from the sensor with thehighest pressure measurement to the sensor with the lower pressuremeasurement. Such ranking may form a pressure pattern. A lookup tablemay be used to map the pressure pattern to a flow direction. To computethe flow speed, another lookup table may be used to map the determinedflow direction and maximum pressure difference across the sensors to theflow speed. Additional details of the processing of the absolutepressure measurements to arrive at the speed and/or direction may befound in U.S. Pat. No. 10,324,104 to Bradley Charles Ashmore,incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The monitoring device may be powered by inductively received energyand/or harvested energy. In the former case, a wireless charger may beplaced in close proximity to the monitoring device in order toinductively charge a rechargeable battery of the monitoring device. Inthe latter case, solar panels disposed on a surface of the monitoringdevice may be used to collect solar energy, which is then converted toDC power to recharge a rechargeable battery of the monitoring device.

The profile of the monitoring may be dome-shaped, conical, rod shaped(in the case of a “rake probe”) or may have a thin profile thatresembles a tile. In the tile embodiment, one tile may form a monitoringdevice, or a group of tiles may be assembled together in the form of amosaic or tessellation to form a monitoring device. In the latter case,each tile may be responsible for one or more functional aspects of themonitoring device. For example, one tile may be responsible forsupplying power; one tile may be responsible for sampling the pressure,one tile may be responsible for processing the pressure measurements,and so on. Additionally, in the tile embodiment, the monitoring devicemay be made from a flexible material so that portions of or an entiretythereof may be flexible to allow the monitoring device to conform to anon-planar surface to which the monitoring device is mounted.

These and other embodiments of the invention are more fully described inassociation with the drawings below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is now described, by way of example and without limitingthe scope of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawingswhich illustrate embodiments of it, in which:

FIG. 1A depicts a perspective view of a monitoring device for measuringa flow velocity, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1B depicts a front view of the monitoring device, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1C depicts a partially exploded view of the monitoring device, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1D depicts a further exploded view of the monitoring device (inwhich components of the sensor module are visible), in accordance withone embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1E depicts a cross section of the monitoring device along line I-I,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1F depicts a bottom view of the monitoring device, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1G depicts an aerodynamic interface and a mounting interface of themonitoring device, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1H depicts an input/output (I/O) interface, a power interface and asensor interface of the monitoring device, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2A depicts a perspective view of a wirelessly chargeable monitoringdevice and a wireless charger for wirelessly (e.g., inductively)charging the monitoring device, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2B depicts a modified version of FIG. 2A with an exploded view ofthe wirelessly chargeable monitoring device, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3A depicts a perspective view of monitoring device in which sensorsof the sensor module face towards a mounting surface, in accordance withone embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3B depicts a perspective view of a monitoring device in whichsensors of the sensor module face away from a mounting surface, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4A depicts a perspective view of a monitoring device withslot-shaped ports, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4B depicts a perspective view of a monitoring device withtriangular-shaped ports, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5 depicts a cutaway view of a monitoring device with compound portsin which the structure of the respective channels are visible, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6A depicts a perspective view of a monitoring device with a conicalaerodynamic interface, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 6B depicts a partially exploded view of the monitoring device ofFIG. 6A, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7A depicts a sensor module in which the sensors are disposed ondifferent horizontal planes, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 7B depicts a magnified view of a portion of FIG. 7A, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8A depicts a monitoring device with a “rake” probe configuration,in which ports of the cavity assembly are arranged in a vertical manner,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8B depicts a monitoring device with an aerodynamic interface thatcombines a dome configuration of FIG. 1A with the rake probeconfiguration of FIG. 8A, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 9A depicts a thin-profile monitoring device in a (default) flatstate, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9B depicts internal components of the monitoring device of FIG. 9A,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9C depicts the flexible nature of the monitoring device of FIG. 9A,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10A depicts a solar rechargeable version of the monitoring deviceof FIG. 9A, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10B depicts internal components of the monitoring device of FIG.10A, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 11 depicts various thin-profile components that are arrangeableover a surface to collectively form a monitoring device, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 depicts two monitoring devices that have been constructed usinga plurality of non-homogeneous velocimeter tiles, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 13 depicts a monitoring device formed from velocimeter tiles thathas been mounted at the wing-root juncture of an airplane, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 14A depicts a monitoring device formed from velocimeter tiles, inwhich each of the velocimeter tiles are communicatively coupled to acomputing device, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 14B depicts a monitoring device formed from velocimeter tiles, inwhich the velocimeter tiles are communicatively coupled to one another,and at least one of the velocimeter tiles is communicatively coupled toa computing device, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15 depicts a perspective view of a thin-profile component with anarrangement of ports, in which each of the ports is disposed on a commonsurface of the thin-profile component and has a distinct orientation onthe common surface, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 16A depicts a top view of a thin-profile monitoring device with anarrangement of ports, in which each of the ports is disposed on a commonsurface of the thin-profile monitoring device and has a distinctorientation on the common surface, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 16B depicts a top view of the internal components of thethin-profile monitoring device of FIG. 16A, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 16C depicts a bottom view of the thin-profile monitoring device ofFIG. 16A, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 16D depicts a bottom view of internal components of thethin-profile monitoring device of FIG. 16A, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 17A depicts a top view of a thin-profile monitoring device with anarrangement of ports, in which each of the ports is disposed on a commonsurface of the thin-profile component and has a distinct orientation onthe common surface, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 17B depicts a top view of internal components of the thin-profilemonitoring device of FIG. 17A, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 18A depicts a top view of a port of a monitoring device, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 18B depicts a cross sectional view of the port of FIG. 18A alongcut line II-II, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 19A depicts a lookup table that maps pressure patterns to flowdirections, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 19B depicts a lookup table that maps a flow direction and themaximum pressure difference to a flow speed, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 20 depicts components of a computer system in which computerreadable instructions instantiating the methods of the present inventionmay be stored and executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments,reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof,and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments inwhich the invention may be practiced. It is understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. Descriptionsassociated with any one of the figures may be applied to differentfigures containing like or similar components.

FIG. 1A depicts a perspective view of monitoring device 10 for measuringa velocity of a flow of a fluid. In some embodiments, only the speed ofthe fluid may be measured by monitoring device 10; in other embodiments,only the direction of the fluid may be measured by monitoring device 10;while in other embodiments, both the speed and the direction of thefluid may be measured by monitoring device 10. The fluid is notexplicitly depicted in FIG. 1A, but one can imagine a fluid thatoccupies a volume bounded by surface 44. Monitoring device 10 is mountedon surface 44 and is also contained within this volume that is boundedby surface 44.

Monitoring device 10 may include an aeroshell 14 that is securelyattached to cavity assembly 12 that includes a plurality of cavities(not visible in FIG. 1A). Cavity assembly 12 may include a plurality ofports (or openings) 16 that are fluidly coupled to at least one of thecavities of cavity assembly 12. While all the visible ports have beenlabeled in FIG. 1A, many of the ports in the subsequent figures will notbe labeled to not unnecessarily clutter the drawings. Aeroshell 14 maycomprise a convex surface. In contrast to cavity assembly 12, aeroshell14 may not contain any ports.

A sensor module (not visible in FIG. 1A) may be disposed betweenaeroshell 14 and cavity assembly 12. The sensor module may contain aplurality of sensors that each is located within a cavity of cavityassembly 12. In one embodiment, each of the sensors is configured tomeasure an absolute pressure of the fluid within a respective cavity ofcavity assembly 12. The absolute pressure measurements may be used tocompute the velocity of the fluid flow, including speed and/ordirection. To compute the flow direction, sensors may be ranked based inorder from the sensor with the highest pressure measurement to thesensor with the lower pressure measurement. Such ranking may form apressure pattern. A lookup table may be used to map the pressure patternto a flow direction. The lookup table may be populated by subjecting anactual (or simulated) monitoring device to an actual (or simulated) flowwith a known flow direction and measuring the actual (or simulated)pressure pattern. To compute the flow speed, another lookup table may beused to map the determined flow direction and maximum pressuredifference across the sensors to the flow speed. This latter lookuptable may be populated by subjecting an actual (or simulated) monitoringdevice to an actual (or simulated) flow with a known flow speed anddirection and measuring the actual (or simulated) maximum pressuredifference. Additional details of the processing of the absolutepressure measurements to arrive at the speed and/or direction may befound in U.S. Pat. No. 10,324,104 to Bradley Charles Ashmore.

A surface of aeroshell 14 and a surface of the cavity assembly 12 mayform a flow-facing surface of monitoring device 10 (i.e., a surface ofmonitoring device 10 that faces the fluid that is being monitored). Morespecifically, monitoring device 10 may include a contact surface (notdepicted) that contacts surface 44 (also referred to as a “mountingsurface”). The surface of monitoring device 10 excluding the contactsurface may be generally referred to as the flow-facing surface. Tosuppress the creation of turbulent flows, junction area 13 on theflow-facing surface, within which aeroshell 14 abuts cavity assembly 12,has a smooth surface (e.g., with as minimal of a groove as possible).FIG. 1B depicts a front view of monitoring device 10. A cross section ofmonitoring device 10 along cut line I-I will be shown in FIG. 1E below.

FIG. 1C depicts an exploded view of monitoring device 10, which showssensor module 18 disposed between aeroshell 14 and cavity assembly 12.In the assembled state of monitoring device 10, sensor module 18 maysnugly fit within sleeve 20. A “downward” facing (i.e., downward in theorientation depicted in FIG. 1C) surface of sensor module 18 may furtherbe geometrically complementary to surface 22 of cavity assembly 12, suchthat sensor module 18 may be “plugged” into cavity assembly 12.Alignment groove 21 may be present on sleeve 20 to guide the insertionof sensor module 18 into sleeve 20 so that sensor module 18 may beplugged into cavity assembly 12 at only one specific orientation withrespect to cavity assembly 12. It is understood that a ridge or aprotuberance (not depicted) may be located on a side of sensor module18, and this ridge or protuberance is configured to slide within groove21 as sensor module 18 is plugged into cavity assembly 12. At thisspecific orientation, sensors 34 of sensor module 18 may each beinserted within a corresponding cavity 24 of cavity assembly 12 (ofwhich only one of the sensors and one of the cavities has been labeledso as to not unnecessarily clutter the drawing). As mentioned above,each of the sensors of sensor module 18 is configured to measure anabsolute pressure of the fluid within a corresponding cavity 24.Further, as will be more clearly shown in the cross section depicted inFIG. 1E, each of the ports 16 may be fluidly connected to one of thecavities 24.

Mounting holes 30 may be present in cavity assembly 12. Screws (notdepicted) may be inserted through mounting holes 30 to secure cavityassembly 12 to mounting surface 44. It is understood that in otherembodiments (not depicted), mounting holes 30 may not be present (or maybe present but left unused), and cavity assembly 12 may be secured tomounting surface 44 using other attachment means such as magnets, glue,tape, Velcro©, etc.

After sensor module 18 has been inserted into sleeve 20 (and cavityassembly 12 has optionally been secured to mounting surface 44),aeroshell 14 may be secured to cavity assembly 12 by pressing aeroshell14 against cavity assembly 12 and rotating aeroshell 14 in a clockwisemanner (or counter-clockwise in other embodiments) until one or morehooks 26 a, 26 b of aeroshell 14 catch one or more catching members 28a, 28 b of cavity assembly 12. While a hook/catching member typesecuring mechanism is depicted in FIG. 1C, it is noted that othersecuring mechanisms may be possible, for example a friction fit couplingmechanism, a tongue and groove coupling mechanism, a threaded couplingmechanism (similar to how a lid is screwed onto ajar), etc.

FIG. 1D depicts a further exploded view of the monitoring device, inwhich specific components of sensor module 18 are visible. Thecomponents of sensor module 18 may include power source 36, housing 38,gasket 35 and sensor board 32. Sensor board 32 may include a pluralityof sensors 34 (e.g., pressure sensors), a processor, memory and one ormore I/O devices. An example pressure sensor is the LPS22HH MEMS nanopressure sensor from STMicroelectronics®, with headquarters in Geneva,Switzerland.

Power source 36 may be configured to supply power to sensor module 18.Power source 36 may comprise a rechargeable or non-rechargeable battery.In the case of a rechargeable battery, the power source may beconfigured to receive inductively transmitted energy (e.g., from awireless charger) or harvested energy (e.g., harvested solar energy froma solar cell, harvested mechanical vibrational energy from apiezoelectric generator, etc.). In the case of a non-rechargeablebattery (e.g., a replaceable battery), the non-rechargeable battery maybe disposed between cavity assembly 12 and aeroshell 14 such thatremoval of aeroshell 14 allows a user to replace the non-rechargeablebattery.

The processor (more specifically, a micro-controller) may be configuredto receive data from the plurality of sensors 34 and process the data toarrive at the flow speed and/or flow direction. The memory may store thedata used and created by the processor.

One or more I/O devices may be used by sensor module 18 to communicatewith components external to the sensor module (e.g., a server, asmartphone, etc.). The I/O devices may facilitate a wired and/orwireless interface (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) of sensor module 18. The I/Odevices may be used to transmit one or more of the measured velocity(e.g., speed and/or direction), pressure measurements, or other measuredquantities to remote computing device 50. Gasket 35 may seal theinterface between sensor module 18 and cavity assembly 12 to ensure thateach sensor 34 measures only the pressure within one cavity 24 of cavityassembly 12. Housing 38 (in particular a cylindrical housing), alongwith battery 36 and cavity assembly 12 may enclose the sensors 34,processor, memory and I/O devices of sensor module 18.

The function of sensor module 18 (e.g., to determine the velocity of afluid flow from pressure measurements) may be the same regardless of thesurrounding components of the monitoring device 10 within which sensormodule 18 is contained. In one embodiment of monitoring device 10, thediameter of the cavity assembly may measure 40 mm; the height of theassembled monitoring device 10 may measure 10 mm; the diameter of sensormodule 18 may measure 15 mm; and the height of sensor module 18 maymeasure 5 mm.

FIG. 1E depicts a cross section of monitoring device 10 along line I-Idepicted in FIG. 1B. In the embodiment of FIG. 1E, each of the ports 16is fluidly connected to a corresponding one of the cavities 24 viaconduit (or channel) 40. A sensor 34 is disposed within each of thecavities 24. If not already apparent, each of the cavities 24 (in theassembled stated of monitoring device 10) is only fluidly connected tothe surrounding fluid via a respective port 16, as openings in surface22 are sealed by gasket 35 and sensor module 18. It is noted that eachof the ports 16 may be fitted with a porous mesh insert (not depicted),similar to a window screen, to prevent the accumulation of foreignmatter (e.g., dust, insects, etc.) within channels 40 and cavities 24,while still permitting the port to fluidly communicate with the fluidflow.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1E, the central most cavity 24′ is notconnected to any ports and the sensor 34′ within cavity 24′ may not beutilized by monitoring device 10. The reason for sensor 34′ is due tothe modular design of sensor module 18. While sensor 34′ may not be usedin monitoring device 10 depicted in FIGS. 1A-1H, sensor 34′ may be usedin other monitoring devices (as will be shown in later describedembodiments, such as in FIGS. 9A-9C). Mounting holes 30 may also bevisible in the cross section depicted in FIG. 1E. FIG. 1F depicts abottom view of monitoring device 10, in which the mounting holes 30 arevisible on the contact surface of cavity assembly 12.

Monitoring device 10 may be constructed with a modular design, allowingsome parts to be substituted with other parts to vary and/or adapt thefunctionality of monitoring device 10. The modular design mayconceptually be organized in a plurality of interfaces, which will bedescribed in more detail below in FIGS. 1G and 1H. Mounting interface 42and aerodynamic interface 46 are depicted in FIG. 1G, while input/output(I/O) interface 48, power interface 52 and sensor interface 54 aredepicted in FIG. 1H.

Mounting interface 42 may refer to the interface between monitoringdevice 10 and any surface to which it is mounted. Mounting interface 42may allow one monitoring device 10 to be swapped with another monitoringdevice 10. Additionally, details such as the above-described mountingmechanism (e.g., screws, glue, etc.) used to secure monitoring device 10to mounting surface 44 may be conceptually regarded as being part ofmounting interface 42.

Aerodynamic interface 46 may refer to the interface between monitoringdevice 10 and the fluid that flows around or near monitoring device 10.Aerodynamic interface 46 may be identical to the above-describedflow-facing surface of monitoring device 10 that may be formed by one ormore of aeroshell 14 and cavity assembly 12. The shape of aerodynamicinterface 46 may influence the flow characteristics that can bemeasured. Various contours (whether conical, domed, flat, etc.) ofaerodynamic interface 46 are possible and are depicted in the variousfigures. In the configuration of aerodynamic interface 46, one aeroshellof monitoring device 10 may be swapped with another aeroshell (and/orone cavity assembly 12 may be swapped with another cavity assembly),while keeping all other components of monitoring device 10 unchanged. Inother embodiments (e.g., in FIG. 3B), no aeroshell 14 may be present,and in such embodiments, the contour of cavity assembly 12 maycompletely configure aerodynamic interface 46.

I/O interface 48 may refer to the communication interface between sensormodule 18 and computing device 50 (e.g., laptop, smartphone, desktop,server, etc.) external to sensor module 18. By default, the I/Ointerface is a wireless interface, and different communication standards(e.g., Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) may be employed to suit different datacommunication requirements. Alternatively, the I/O interface may be awired interface, such as a USB interface, a small computer systeminterface (SCSI), etc. The measured velocity of the fluid flow (e.g.,including speed and/or direction) may be transmitted from sensor module18 to computing device 50 via I/O interface 48. In addition, thefirmware of a microcontroller of sensor module 18 may also be updatedwirelessly via I/O interface 48 using standard over-the-air technology.Features can be introduced or software maintenance can be performedwithout opening the device. In addition, I/O interface 48 may allow onecomputing device to be swapped with another computing device, whilekeeping all other components of the monitoring system unchanged.

Power interface 52 may refer to the interface between a power supply(e.g., a rechargeable or non-rechargeable battery) and the othercomponents of sensor module 18. Power interface 52 may allow the powersource of monitoring device 10 to be swapped with a different powersource, while keeping all other components of monitoring device 10unchanged.

Sensor interface 54 may refer to the interface between sensor module 18and cavity assembly 12. Sensor interface 54 may allow one sensor moduleof monitoring device 10 to be swapped with a different sensor module,while keeping all other components of the velocimeter unchanged.Occasionally, sensor interface 54 may need to be cleaned by removingforeign matter (e.g., dust, insects, etc.) that may have become lodgedwithin one or more of the cavities 24 and/or channels 40. As should beapparent, these above-described interfaces isolate various functions ofthe monitoring device and permit components of the monitoring device tobe swapped in order to configure the monitoring device for different usecases. The remainder of the description provides example configurationsof a monitoring device 10, in which one or more of the above-describedinterfaces may be configured and/or varied.

FIGS. 2A and 2B depict a modification to the power interface of themonitoring device 10 depicted in FIGS. 1A-1H. In the previouslydescribed embodiment of monitoring device 10, it was assumed thatbattery 36 (e.g., a coin type battery such as CR1616) is periodicallyreplaced as the energy stored in battery 36 is depleted. In FIGS. 2A and2B, battery 36 of monitoring device 10 is configured to be wirelessly(e.g., inductively) charged by wireless charger 56. An advantage to sucha monitoring device 10 is that the monitoring device 10 need not to beopened when the power runs out, and in fact, the enclosure of themonitoring device 10 can be sealed shut to help maintain a continuousflow-facing interface.

FIG. 2A depicts monitoring device 10 that is located near a wirelesscharger 56, enabling monitoring device 10 to be wirelessly charged bywireless charger 56. In one embodiment, power may be supplied towireless charger 56 from computing device 50 via USB port 58 of wirelesscharger 56 and USB cable 60. Of course, other ports and cables may beused to supply power to wireless charger 56. In another embodiment (notdepicted), wireless charger 56 may be directly plugged into anelectrical 110V (or 220 V) outlet.

FIG. 2B depicts an exploded view of monitoring device 10 showing some ofthe components that enable monitoring device 10 to be wirelesslycharged. Wireless charger 56 may include a transmitter coil (notdepicted) that establishes a charging field with receiving coil 62located inside of monitoring device 10. Current from receiving coil 62may be conditioned by a power conditioning board 64 to charge battery36, which may be a coin-type rechargeable battery (e.g., a lithiumbattery). In another embodiment (not depicted), battery 36 may be alithium battery in a flexible polymer foil package. Integrated circuit66 of sensor board 32 (e.g., comprising a processor, wirelesstransmitter/receiver, and flash memory) is visible in FIG. 2B. It isnoted that, in other embodiments (not depicted), it is possible forprocessor, wireless transmitter/receiver and flash memory to each be adiscrete integrated circuit component, rather than being integrated intoa single integrated circuit 66.

FIGS. 3A and 3B depict variations of the aerodynamic interface, whichmay determine the types of attributes (e.g., velocity relative to aprimary flow direction or relative to distance from the mountingsurface) that are measured from the fluid flows. The aerodynamicinterface may, along with mounting surface 44, encapsulate sensor module18. To maximize configurability (and minimize cost), a common sensormodule may be placed within different enclosures chosen per themeasurement goals. The aerodynamic interface may be formed from separateparts (e.g., aeroshell 14 and cavity assembly 12), as shown by theexample in FIG. 3A. In such an embodiment, sensor module 18 may beinverted (i.e., with the sensors—not visible—facing downwards towardcavity assembly 12) to facilitate port placement along the flow-facingsurface of cavity assembly 12. In another embodiment, the aerodynamicinterface may be formed from a single component, as shown by the examplein FIG. 3B. In such an embodiment, cavity assembly 12 is shaped toencapsulate sensor module 18 over mounting surface 44. With sensors 34facing upwards towards cavity assembly 12, ports 16 can be located atany location on flow-facing surface of cavity assembly 12. While onlysensor module 18 has been depicted in dashed line, it is understood thatother previously described components (e.g., battery 36, channels 40,etc.) may also be included within monitoring device 10, even though theyare not depicted for ease of illustration.

FIGS. 4A and 4B depict variations in the port geometry of theaerodynamic interface. FIG. 4A depicts a monitoring device with slot- oroval-shaped ports, while FIG. 4B depicts a monitoring device withtriangular-shaped ports. The size and shape of the ports (e.g., slot,triangle) can be varied for different velocity accuracy.

FIG. 5 depicts additional variations to the aerodynamic interface interms of how the ports correspond to the respective cavities. In thepreviously described embodiments, a single port was fluidly coupled to asingle cavity. However, in the “compound port” embodiment of FIG. 5,multiple ports may be connected to a single cavity. For example, asshown in FIG. 5, ports 16 a, 16 b and 16 c may be all fluidly coupled tocavity 24. In particular, subchannels 40 a and 40 d may fluidly coupleport 16 a to cavity 24, subchannels 40 b and 40 d may fluidly coupleport 16 b to cavity 24; and subchannels 40 c and 40 d may fluidly coupleport 16 c to cavity 24. In such an embodiment, the pressure within asingle cavity may be influenced by the air flow proximate to a pluralityof ports.

FIGS. 6A and 6B depict additional variations to the aerodynamicinterface, in which the earlier described domed-shaped aerodynamicinterface is replaced with a conical-shaped aerodynamic interface. FIG.6A depicts cavity assembly 12 with ports 16 arranged along acircumference of the conical surface, as well as one port 16 located atthe tip of the conical surface. Sensor module 18 (with sensors 34 facingaway from the mounting surface) can be seen in dashed lines withincavity assembly 12. For increased clarity in illustration, cavityassembly 12 and sensor module 18 are depicted separately from oneanother in FIG. 6B.

FIGS. 7A and 7B depict variations to the sensor interface of themonitoring device, in which a first subset of the sensors are mounted onplanar surface 70 a and a second subset of the sensors are mounted onplanar surface 70 b, planar surface 70 a and planar surface 70 b beingdisposed at different elevations. For example, sensor 34 a may bemounted on planar surface 70 a, and sensor 34 b may be mounted on planarsurface 70 b. Mounting sensors 34 a, 34 b on different planar surfacesadds a degree of freedom to the placement of the sensors, as compared tothe default arrangement with all sensors being disposed on a singleplanar surface.

Depending on the placement of ports on the aerodynamic interface, it maybe complicated to route the flow channels between the ports and thesensors, under the constraint that flow channels be kept short andstraight to facilitate manufacture and maintenance (e.g., to clean them,if necessary). Notice in the example of FIG. 7B how ports 16 a and 16 bare stacked vertically on top of one another. By placing sensors 34 a,34 b on different planar surfaces, flow channels 40 a, 40 b may beconveniently spaced apart from one another in a direction perpendicularto the planar surfaces.

FIG. 8A depicts additional variations to the aerodynamic interface, inwhich ports 16 a and 16 b are spaced apart on a surface of a “rakeprobe” cavity assembly 12 along line 45 that extends in a directionperpendicular to mounting surface 44. An aerodynamic interface with“vertically” staggered ports may be used when measuring cross-sectionalvelocities (e.g., surface velocity profiles), and for characterizing theboundary layer (i.e., the layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of abounding surface where the effects of viscosity are significant), e.g.,for drag. To simplify the connections of sensors to ports, sensor module18 may be oriented with its sensors facing away from the mountingsurface 44.

FIG. 8B depicts a hybrid of the earlier depicted cavity assembly 12 awith circumferentially spaced ports and the rake probe cavity assembly12 b. Similarly, in FIG. 8B, ports 16 c and 16 d are oriented along line45 that extends in a direction perpendicular to mounting surface 44,while a plurality of ports (including port 16 e) are distributed about aplane that is parallel to mounting surface 44. To simplify theconnections of sensors to ports, sensor module 18 may be oriented on its“side”, with its sensors facing the vertically oriented ports.

FIG. 9A depicts yet another variation in the aerodynamic interface, inwhich monitoring device 10 has a thin profile. This thin profile isuseful for higher speed flows (e.g., >20 m/s), because wake turbulenceis effectively eliminated by the thin profile. On the other hand, thethin profile is less effective for measuring flows with a slow speed(e.g., <20 m/s). Monitoring device 10 of FIG. 9A comprises cavityassembly 12 which forms the flow-facing surface of the monitoringdevice. The flow-facing surface (i.e., the surface of cavity assembly 12that is exposed to the fluid flow) may be oriented substantiallyparallel to the mounting surface 44, as shown in FIG. 9A. Cavityassembly 12 may include a plurality of ports 16 and a plurality ofcavities 24. While not depicted in FIG. 9A, it is understood that ports16 are connected to the cavities 24 by channels, in a similar manner asthat depicted in FIG. 1E. Cavities 24, located within cavity assembly12, are not visible in the perspective view of FIG. 9A and hence aredepicted in dotted line. Similar to the monitoring device depicted inFIGS. 1A-1H, cavities 24 of cavity assembly 12 may individually containa corresponding sensor 34 of sensor module 18. No aeroshell may beincluded in the aerodynamic interface of the monitoring device of FIG.9A.

FIG. 9B depicts monitoring device 10 with cavity assembly 12 removed toillustrate the internal components (e.g., sensor module 18 and backingmember 74) of monitoring device 10. Conceptually, one can imagine cavityassembly 12 like a shoebox that encloses sensor module 18 and backingmember 74. Using the shoebox analogy, FIG. 9B depicts the contents ofthe shoebox, with the shoebox lid removed. Sensor module 18 may includesensor board 32 (with a plurality of sensors disposed thereon),receiving coil 62 (i.e., to receive inductively transmitted energy) andbatteries 36 a/b/c. These components of sensor module 18 may be arrangedin a “side-by-side” manner (rather than in a vertically stackedconfiguration) on backing member 74 to accommodate the thin profile. Itis important to note that sensor module 18 depicted in FIG. 9B mayinclude the same (or similar) components as the stacked-assembly sensormodule 18 depicted in FIG. 2B, but instead of being stacked, thecomponents are “unstacked” and laid on a surface of backing member 74.

The thin profile not only provides the advantage of minimizing thedisruption to the fluid flow, but in some embodiments also provides theability for monitoring device 10 to flex and conform to a non-planarcontour of the mounting surface 44, as shown in FIG. 9C. It is notedthat no gap is present between monitoring device 10 and non-planarmounting surface 44 in FIG. 9C. The flexibility of the monitoring deviceis not only provided by its thin profile, but also in how its componentsare fabricated. In one embodiment, backing member 74 and cavity assembly12 may be printed using flexible media, allowing the thin-profile deviceto bend along (non-flexible) component boundaries. In anotherembodiment, further flexibility may be provided with sensor board 32,receiving coil 62 and battery 36 also fabricated using a flexiblematerial. For example, sensor board 32 may be made from a flexiblecircuit board, and batteries 36 a/b/c may be flexible lithium ion pouchbatteries. In such an embodiment, the entire monitoring device may beflexible, similar to a sheet of paper. Moreover, inductive rechargingeliminates the need to replace the batteries, allowing the components tobe permanently encapsulated within the thin-profile device.

In other embodiments (not depicted), backing member 74 may be omitted,and sensor board 32, receiving coil 62, and one or more flexible lithiumion pouch batteries 36 a/b/c may be directly mounted onto mountingsurface 44 (e.g., using an adhesive) to further decrease the thickness(or height) of the thin-profile device. In such an embodiment, one canimagine cavity assembly 12 to resemble only the lid of a shoebox, andsuch lid can be placed directly over the sensor module components thathave been directly mounted onto mounting surface 44.

As may be apparent, there may be tradeoffs between the height (alsoreferred to as thickness) and the footprint of a monitoring device. Thereduced height of a thin-profile monitoring device may cause lessdisruption to the fluid flow, with the potential drawback of a largerfootprint. On the other hand, the taller height of a stacked assemblymay cause more disruption to the fluid flow, but have the potentialbenefit of a smaller footprint.

As will be more clearly explained below, a thin-profile monitoringdevice may be part of a “tiled” or mosaic arrangement, such thatelectrical signals and even power may be transmitted from onethin-profile monitoring device to an adjacently located thin-profilemonitoring device. Electrical ports 72 disposed on a side surface ofmonitoring device 10 may be configured to communicate data signalsand/or supply power to monitoring device 10 from an adjacent device (notdepicted). Alternatively, or in addition, the electrical ports 72 may beconfigured to communicate data signals and/or supply power frommonitoring device 10 to an adjacent device (not depicted). Theseelectrical ports may include mechanical linkages (e.g., plug and socket)to secure the electrical connections.

FIG. 10A depicts a solar rechargeable version of a thin-profilemonitoring device. In the solar rechargeable version, one or more solarpanels 76 may be disposed on the flow-facing surface of monitoringdevice 10. FIG. 10B depicts the internal components of the monitoringdevice of FIG. 10A, including battery 36, sensor board 32 and powerconditioning board 64 that are arranged in a side-by-side manner onbacking member 74. Solar energy that is received by solar panels 76 maybe converted to AC or DC power by power conditioning board 64, beforethe harvested energy is provided to and consumed by components of sensorboard 32.

FIG. 11 depicts various possible shapes/geometries of thin-profilecomponents, also called “velocimeter tiles” or “tiles”. Tilesindividually may form a monitoring device (such as in the embodiment ofFIGS. 9A-9C), or a group of these tiles may be electrically coupled toone another in a “mosaic” (also called a “velocimeter mosaic”) to form asingle monitoring device. For instance, while the above-describedmonitoring devices all contained a cavity assembly, a sensor module, aninput/output module, and a battery, each tile may or may not contain acavity assembly, may or may not contain a sensor module, may or may notcontain an input/output module, and may or may not contain a battery.

Like floor tiles, velocimeter tiles (whether flexible or rigid) can bemade in different shapes and sizes (e.g., rectangles, strips, triangles,hexagons, ovals, etc.). Velocimeter tiles can be shaped to form atessellation, i.e., to form a mosaic without any gaps. Internal-facingedge faces (i.e., internal with respect to the mosaic) can be squared topermit flush placement against adjacent tiles, whereas edge faces on anexternal boundary (i.e., external with respect to the mosaic) can havean aerodynamic profile to minimize flow disruption. Tile 78 a providesan example of an aerodynamic edge profile 77 with a smooth transition(without any kinks) between a top surface of the tile and a side surfaceof the velocimeter tile. In one embodiment, the flexible tile media canbe trimmed with a razor blade or scissors to remove the aerodynamic edgeif that edge of the tile is arranged to be adjacent to another tileinstead of being externally facing.

Certain shapes may be topologically more suited for tessellation. On theother hand, a tile need not be part of a mosaic, and could be astand-alone component. For example, an individual tile with aerodynamicedges can measure flows in one location, similar to the velocimeterswith a stacked sensor module assembly. The tiles can be electricallyinterconnected, as described above. To permit a high degree offlexibility and to manage costs, “null” tiles may be present to performthe sole function of conducting data or power through the mosaic (i.e.,a “null” tile would only contain wires without any other componentry).Tile 78 b is an example of a “corner” tile. Tile 78 c is an example ofan oval-shaped tile. Tile 78 d is an example of a “strip” tile. Tile 78e is an example of a strip tile that has been flexed into a non-planarstate. Tile 78 f is an example of a null tile.

FIG. 12 depicts two monitoring devices that have been constructed usinga plurality of non-homogeneous velocimeter tiles. As such, each of thetiles may not independently function on their own, and instead acollection of disparate ones of the tiles may be required to form afunctional monitoring device. Such a design can optimize resourceutilization across a mosaic. For example, a processor tile can be sharedby many sensor tiles; similarly, a power tile or an I/O tile can beshared by many sensor tiles.

For example, monitoring device 80 a has been constructed from aplurality of non-homogeneous tiles 78 g, 78 h, 78 i and 78 j. Sensortile 78 g includes cavity assembly 12 and a sensor board with sensors(not depicted) contained within cavity assembly 12 (also referred to ashousing). Sensor tile 78 g may not, however, include a processor, abattery or an I/O module. Processor tile 78 h includes a processor (notdepicted) that is contained within housing 79 h. Battery tile 78 iincludes only a battery (not depicted) that is contained within housing79 i. Similarly, I/O tile 78 j includes only an I/O module (notdepicted) that is contained within housing 79 j. Cavity assembly 12 mayhave a thickness of t₁; housing 79 h may have a thickness of t₂; housing79 i may have a thickness of t₃; and housing 79 j may have a thicknessof t₄. In one embodiment, the thicknesses, t₁, t₂, t₃ and t₄ are allequal to one another to form a smooth flat surface which minimizes thedisruption to the fluid flow.

Monitoring device 80 b also provides another example of a velocimetermosaic that has been constructed from a plurality of non-homogeneoustiles 78 k, 78 l, 78 m, 78 n and 78 o. Tiles 78 k, 78 l and 78 o may besensor tiles, whereas tile 78 m may be a processor tile and tile 78 nmay jointly provide power and I/O capabilities.

FIG. 13 depicts an application of mosaic 80 c to characterize the flowat or near wing-root juncture 86 of airplane 82. Wing-root juncture 86is shown in greater detail in magnified portion 84 of airplane 82. Asshown in the illustration, mosaic 80 c of rectangular tiles instrumentswing-root juncture 86 so that the flow field at this juncture can becharacterized. In practice, the flow field at wing-root juncture 86 maybe quite dynamic. Accordingly, each tile may use sensitive pressuresensors (e.g., using MEMS technology) to measure the flow at the end ofshort conduits. As a result, the capture of high resolution data ispossible so that the velocity of the dynamic flow can be measured inhigh resolution.

FIG. 14A depicts grid mosaic 80 d of a plurality of flat-profilemonitoring devices 10. As mentioned above, each of the flat-profilemonitoring devices 10 may be thought of as a “tile”, and like the tileson a floor, these components can be placed adjacent to each other tocover a wide area, with a boundary shape of the grid arrangement limitedonly by the tile shape. It should be apparent that such a gridarrangement of monitoring devices may have a low, uniform thickness,which minimizes flow disruption. Ports may be disposed on the topsurface of the tiles, except for tiles on the boundary of the gridarrangement, in which ports may also be disposed on the outwardly-facingsides of the tiles, in addition to the top surface. The exampleillustrated in FIG. 14a depicts a 5×5 tile grid in which each of the 25tiles communicates with remote computing device 50 (e.g., PC,smartphone, etc.) via communication paths 90. The remote computingdevice 50 may be configured to aggregate the data to report on the flowfield measured by the entire grid mosaic 80 d.

FIG. 14B depicts grid mosaic 80 e of a plurality of tiles 10, in whichthe tiles are configured as a mesh-type network. Data from the tiles 10may be cascaded and aggregated together at one or more of the tiles 10via communication path 92 before being transmitted to remote computingdevice 50 (e.g., PC, smartphone, etc.) via communication path 94. Thedesign depicted in FIG. 14B simplifies the network topology andincreases the possible scale, but at the cost of the mesh networkoverhead.

FIG. 15 depicts a perspective view of thin-profile component 78 p with aparticular arrangement of ports on a common surface of the cavityassembly 12 of the thin-profile component 78 p. A centralcircular-shaped port 16 b may be surrounded by a plurality of “angled”(or triangular) ports (e.g., 16 a, 16 c) disposed about a circumferenceof a circle. Each of the angled ports may have a distinct orientation(with respect to other angled ports) on the common surface. Thisarrangement of ports permits each port to interact differently with alaminar (horizontal) flow 93 across the tile surface, resulting in apressure pattern (e.g., pressure measurements from all pressure sensorsat a particular time instant) that is dependent on the flow direction,as will be shown in FIG. 19B. Channel 40 may be seen within some of theports. As previously described, channel 40 connects one of the portswith one of the cavities (not depicted) within thin-profile component 78p.

FIG. 16A depicts a top view of thin-profile monitoring device 10 withthe same arrangement of ports as the thin-profile component 78 p of FIG.15. FIG. 16B depicts a top view of the internal components of thethin-profile monitoring device of FIG. 16A (i.e., with cavity assembly12 removed). The internal components may include sensor board 32,battery 36 and receiver coil 62 arranged in a side-by-side manner andsecured in place by securing member 96. One may observe how ports 16 a,16 b and 16 c are directly aligned over sensors 34 a, 34 b and 34 c,respectively, allowing channels connecting the ports and the cavities(within which the sensors are disposed) to be as short as possible.

FIG. 16C depicts a bottom view of the thin-profile monitoring device 10of FIG. 16A. The bottom view includes the backside of cavity assembly12, which includes a removeable panel 95, which when removed, allowsaccess to the internal components of thin-profile monitoring device 10.FIG. 16D depicts a bottom view of internal components of thethin-profile monitoring device of FIG. 16A. The bottom sides of sensorboard 32, battery 36 and receiver coil 62 are visible in FIG. 16D, andthese components are secured in placed by securing member 96.

FIG. 17A depicts a top view of a thin-profile monitoring device with anarrangement of ports that differs from that depicted in FIG. 16A. Thecentral circular port 16 b is still present in FIG. 17A, but the angledports are no longer distributed about the circumference of a circle.Instead, the angled ports are distributed so as to correspond to thelocations of the sensors on sensor board 32, as depicted in FIG. 17B(i.e., resembling the sensor board 32 from the embodiment previouslydescribed in FIGS. 1A-1H).

FIG. 18A depicts a top view of port 16 d of a monitoring device. Port 16d is an optimized version of the “angled” (or triangular-shaped) portspresented in FIGS. 15, 16A and 17A, in which the sharp corners of the“angled” ports have been rounded to reduce turbulence. Simulationsindicate no wake turbulence being associated with these optimized ports.Port 16 d includes rim 97 that is at the same elevation as theflow-facing surface formed by cavity assembly 12. Port 16 d is joinedwith channel 40 which leads to an internal cavity of cavity assembly 12.Sloping portion 98 may act as an interface between rim 97 and channel40. FIG. 18B depicts a cross-sectional view of the port of FIG. 18Aalong cut line II-II. Channel 40 and rim 97 are visible in thecross-sectional view, and as well as the contour of the sloping portion98.

Candidate velocimeter designs were simulated numerically to predictmeasurement accuracy and disruption to the measured flow. Simulationsinvolving the ports in FIG. 18A in the orientations depicted in theupper left image of FIG. 19A were performed using COMSOL Multiphysics, across-platform finite element analysis, solver and Multiphysicssimulation software provided by COMSOL, Inc.® of Stockholm, Sweden. Thesimulations were across a range of flow speeds and angles. Each of the“ovals” in the upper left image of FIG. 19A represents one of the portsshown in FIG. 18A. Lookup tables generated using these simulated resultsare displayed in FIGS. 19A and 19B.

FIG. 19A shows a lookup table to map each pressure pattern to one ormore incident flow angles (i.e., a flow directions). In the exampleapplication of the lookup table depicted in FIG. 19A, the pressurepattern of (8, 10, 10, 13, 10, 7, 5, 1, 4, 2, 5, 3, 8) is mapped to theflow direction of 75° using the lookup table. While each port is labeledwith a sensor label “a, b, c, . . . ”, it is understood that theselabels are intended to label the sensor that measures the pressure fromthat corresponding port. As indicated in FIG. 19A, the lookup table isonly useful for estimating the flow direction for speed greater or equalto 20 m/s. While the data used to populate the lookup table was theoutput of simulations, the data could also be gathered using wind tunnelcalibrations and a functioning (fully calibrated) velocimeter.

FIG. 19B shows a lookup table to map a pairing of flow direction andmaximum pressure difference (more specifically maximum log pressuredifference) to a flow speed. More specifically, the maximum log pressuredifference refers to the log of the maximum pressure difference that ismeasured between any two of the pressure sensors. In the exampleapplication of the lookup table depicted in FIG. 19B (which continueswith the example from FIG. 19A), the flow direction of 75° and themaximum log pressure difference of 1.4 is mapped to the flow speed of 60m/s. Hence, FIGS. 19A and 19B illustrate a two-step procedure (applylookup table of FIG. 19A, and then apply lookup table of FIG. 19B) toarrive at the flow direction and flow speed from pressure measurementssampled by a monitoring device.

More specifically, the lookup table of FIG. 19B shows a correlationbetween the maximum pressure difference and the incident flow speed.However, due to the flat tile profile and asymmetries in port placement,a maximum pressure difference typically does not map to a unique speed.For example, the maximum pressure difference of 1.4 could map to a speedof 40 m/s at an incident angle of 20 degrees. Therefore, the incidentflow angle (i.e., the flow direction) is used to discriminate betweenpossible flow speeds indicated by the maximum pressure difference alone.The data of the lookup table of FIG. 19B can also be generated viasimulations or wind tunnel calibrations and a functioning (fullycalibrated) velocimeter.

The velocimeter (or more generally, the monitoring device) describedherein may be used in real-world applications like flight testing androad testing. Its configurability makes it cost effective for many typesof flow measurement, and its scalability permits measurement of flowfields across a large aerodynamically-shaped area. It is noted thatwhile most of the description was related to using the monitoring deviceto monitor the velocity of a fluid flow, it is noted that the solepurpose of the monitoring device may be used to sample the pressure ofthe fluid flow at ports distributed about the flow-facing surface, andsuch pressure measurements may be transmitted to remote computing device50 for analysis and/or processing. Further, it is noted that while mostof the description was directed to sensors that performed pressuremeasurements, it is possible that the sensors may sense other quantitiessuch as temperature, vibration, acoustic waves (e.g., whether audible ornot audible), and/or humidity in the alternative or in addition topressure.

As is apparent from the foregoing discussion, aspects of the presentinvention involve the use of various computer systems and computerreadable storage media having computer-readable instructions storedthereon. FIG. 20 provides an example of system 100 that may berepresentative of any of the computing systems (e.g., sensor module 18,PC 50, smartphone 50) discussed herein. Note, not all of the variouscomputer systems have all of the features of system 100. For example,certain ones of the computer systems discussed above may not include adisplay inasmuch as the display function may be provided by a clientcomputer communicatively coupled to the computer system or a displayfunction may be unnecessary. Such details are not critical to thepresent invention.

System 100 includes a bus 102 or other communication mechanism forcommunicating information, and a processor 104 (e.g., a microcontroller,an ASIC, a CPU, etc.) coupled with the bus 102 for processinginformation. Computer system 100 also includes a main memory 106, suchas a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupledto the bus 102 for storing information and instructions to be executedby processor 104. Main memory 106 also may be used for storing temporaryvariables or other intermediate information during execution ofinstructions to be executed by processor 104. Computer system 100further includes a read only memory (ROM) 108 or other static storagedevice coupled to the bus 102 for storing static information andinstructions for the processor 104. A storage device 110, for example ahard disk, flash memory-based storage medium, or other storage mediumfrom which processor 104 can read, is provided and coupled to the bus102 for storing information and instructions (e.g., operating systems,applications programs and the like).

Computer system 100 may be coupled via the bus 102 to a display 112,such as a flat panel display, for displaying information to a computeruser. An input device 114, such as a keyboard including alphanumeric andother keys, may be coupled to the bus 102 for communicating informationand command selections to the processor 104. Another type of user inputdevice is cursor control device 116, such as a mouse, a trackpad, orsimilar input device for communicating direction information and commandselections to processor 104 and for controlling cursor movement on thedisplay 112. Other user interface devices, such as microphones,speakers, etc. are not shown in detail but may be involved with thereceipt of user input and/or presentation of output.

The processes referred to herein may be implemented by processor 104executing appropriate sequences of computer-readable instructionscontained in main memory 106. Such instructions may be read into mainmemory 106 from another computer-readable medium, such as storage device110, and execution of the sequences of instructions contained in themain memory 106 causes the processor 104 to perform the associatedactions. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry orfirmware-controlled processing units may be used in place of or incombination with processor 104 and its associated computer softwareinstructions to implement the invention. The computer-readableinstructions may be rendered in any computer language.

In general, all of the above process descriptions are meant to encompassany series of logical steps performed in a sequence to accomplish agiven purpose, which is the hallmark of any computer-executableapplication. Unless specifically stated otherwise, it should beappreciated that throughout the description of the present invention,use of terms such as “processing”, “computing”, “calculating”,“determining”, “displaying”, “receiving”, “transmitting” or the like,refer to the action and processes of an appropriately programmedcomputer system, such as computer system 100 or similar electroniccomputing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented asphysical (electronic) quantities within its registers and memories intoother data similarly represented as physical quantities within itsmemories or registers or other such information storage, transmission ordisplay devices.

Computer system 100 also includes a communication interface 118 coupledto the bus 102. Communication interface 118 may provide a two-way datacommunication channel with a computer network, which providesconnectivity to and among the various computer systems discussed above.For example, communication interface 118 may be a local area network(LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatibleLAN, which itself is communicatively coupled to the Internet through oneor more Internet service provider networks. The precise details of suchcommunication paths are not critical to the present invention. What isimportant is that computer system 100 can send and receive messages anddata through the communication interface 118 and in that way communicatewith hosts accessible via the Internet. Communication may be inreal-time or in “batch” mode, wherein data is recorded in memory forsubsequent downloading.

Thus, a configurable flow velocimeter has been described. It is to beunderstood that the above-description is intended to be illustrative,and not restrictive. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those ofskill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of theinvention should, therefore, be determined with reference to theappended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which suchclaims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. A monitoring device, comprising: a processor; acavity assembly including a plurality of cavities; and a sensor moduleincluding a plurality of sensors, wherein the sensor module is enclosedwithin the cavity assembly, wherein the cavity assembly comprises aflexible material so as to allow a surface of the cavity assembly toconform to a contour of a non-planar mounting surface, wherein thecavity assembly forms a flow-facing surface of the monitoring device,wherein the flow-facing surface of the monitoring device comprises aplurality of ports, wherein each of the ports is fluidly connected to acorresponding cavity of the cavity assembly, wherein, in an unmountedstate of the monitoring device, the plurality of ports is disposed on afirst plane, wherein each of the sensors is configured to measure apressure of a fluid within a corresponding cavity of the cavityassembly, and wherein the processor is configured to compute a velocityof a flow of the fluid based on the pressure measured by each of thesensors.
 2. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein, in a mountedstate of the monitoring device, at least one of the plurality of portsis disposed outside of the first plane.
 3. The monitoring device ofclaim 1, wherein, in the unmounted state of the monitoring device, eachof the ports is disposed directly above a corresponding sensor of thesensor module.
 4. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein, in theunmounted state of the monitoring device, the plurality of ports isdistributed about a circumference of a circle.
 5. The monitoring deviceof claim 4, wherein, in the unmounted state of the monitoring device,the plurality of sensors is distributed within the circumference of thecircle.
 6. A monitoring device, comprising: a processor; a flexiblecavity assembly including a plurality of cavities; and a sensor moduleincluding a plurality of sensors and a flexible circuit board, whereinthe plurality of sensors is mounted on the flexible circuit board,wherein sensor module is enclosed within the flexible cavity assembly,wherein the flexible cavity assembly forms a flow-facing surface of themonitoring device, wherein the flow-facing surface of the monitoringdevice comprises a plurality of ports, wherein each of the ports isfluidly connected to a corresponding cavity of the flexible cavityassembly, wherein each of the sensors is configured to measure apressure of a fluid within a corresponding cavity of the cavityassembly, and wherein the processor is configured to compute a velocityof a flow of the fluid based on the pressure measured by each of thesensors.
 7. The monitoring device of claim 6, further comprising aflexible battery to supply power to at least the flexible circuit board.8. The monitoring device of claim 7, further comprising a flexiblereceiving coil configured to receive inductively transmitted energy soas to charge the flexible battery.
 9. The monitoring device of claim 6,wherein, in an unmounted state of the monitoring device, the pluralityof ports is distributed about a circumference of a circle.
 10. Themonitoring device of claim 9, wherein, in the unmounted state of themonitoring device, the plurality of sensors is distributed within thecircumference of the circle.
 11. The monitoring device of claim 6,wherein, in the unmounted state of the monitoring device, each of theports is disposed directly above a corresponding sensor of the sensormodule.
 12. A monitoring device, comprising: a cavity assembly includinga plurality of cavities; and a sensor module including a plurality ofsensors, wherein the sensor module is enclosed within the cavityassembly, wherein the cavity assembly forms a flow-facing surface of themonitoring device, wherein each of the ports is fluidly connected to acorresponding cavity of the cavity assembly via a respective channel,wherein the flow-facing surface of the monitoring device comprises aplurality of ports, wherein each of the ports from the plurality ofports has a shape that is identical to one another, and wherein, whenthe monitoring device is mounted on a first planar surface, each of theshapes (i) is disposed within a second plane that is parallel to thefirst planar surface and (ii) has an orientation on the flow-facingsurface that is distinct from the orientation of each of the othershapes on the flow-facing surface.
 13. The monitoring device of claim12, wherein each of the sensors is configured to measure a pressurewithin a corresponding cavity of the cavity assembly.
 14. The monitoringdevice of claim 12, wherein the cavity assembly comprises a flexiblematerial so as to allow a surface of the cavity assembly to conform to acontour of a non-planar mounting surface.
 15. The monitoring device ofclaim 12, wherein each of the ports from the plurality of ports has atriangular shape with rounded corners.
 16. The monitoring device ofclaim 12, wherein a transition region that joins each of the ports withits respective channel includes a sloping surface.
 17. The monitoringdevice of claim 12, wherein the plurality of ports is distributed abouta circumference of a circle.
 18. The monitoring device of claim 17,wherein the plurality of sensors is distributed within the circumferenceof the circle.